Usage of the word accommodate

Question

I am not a native speaker of english language. What I understand from the word accommodate is that to give someone place to live. Like in this sentence

Please do some arrangements for my accommodation.

What I infer from that accommodated by means the place is filled with people . For instance :

This hotel is accommodated by the wedding people.

One of my friends wrote this line in his essay

I am writing this letter to convey my dwelling experience that has been accommodated by the university.

I checked on cambridge and merriam webster dictionary that accommodate can also mean provide. So I want to know Is this sentence wrong? How accommodate can be used to mean provide.

Answer 1

"Please make arrangements to provide for my accommodation" would be correct. (Only include the "do" if you specifically wish to emphasise the fact that you want this, that is, in answer to a specific question "Do you want us to provide accommodation?")

Note the subtle difference here: it is not the arrangements that need to be provided, it is the accommodation.

But you cannot use the word "accommodate" to mean "filled up with". The hotel "accommodates" the wedding people, the wedding people do not "accommodate the hotel.

Your friend's essay should perhaps read:

"I am writing this letter to convey my experience of the accommodation (that has been) provided by the university."

You have been accommodated, not your dwelling experience (which you would not normally say, although it's not technically wrong). The fact of it being "accommodation" already implies the fact that it is "dwelling" you are doing.

In fact, "dwelling" in this context is a bit of an old-fashioned word: we would use "living" instead. Although not as "my living experience". Maybe "my experience living in the accommodation provided by the university" would work, but it is wordier and therefore less desirable than the more compact and precise "my experience of the accommodation provided by the university."